A mother has revealed her horror after claiming a sick predator groomed her 13-year-old daughter through Facebook. Child abductor Michael Martin has been caged for 13 years for dragging an 11-year-old girl into his jeep.
The man, who has nearly 100 convictions, sped off when his victim’s 10-year-old hero brother clung onto the vehicle and struck him.
Last night a mum, who came forward to reveal how Martin groomed her teenage girl, blasted Martin’s sentence, saying he “should have got life”.
Despite the sick Facebook messages sent by the brute being reported to Garda, he could not be charged because he never suggested meeting the teen.
The online exchange two years before Martin pounced on his 11-year-old victim in Cullohill, Co Laois, on March 4, gives an insight into his twisted mind.
The mum told how the pervert tried to befriend her daughter on the social networking site in 2013 and she believes were it not for her vigilant monitoring, the girl’s fate could have been a lot worse.
The mum, who cannot be named to protect her daughter, said: “He contacted her in April 2013. I went straight to the guards and reported it.
“In his messages he said he was 24 but he was 34 and was using three separate Facebook accounts.
“It turned out he had lots of that age group added to his Facebook and that’s why my daughter accepted him thinking it was the girl in his picture.
"She mistook Michael as Michelle. It’s scary how easy it happened.
“The guards were very sympathetic but there was nothing they could do apparently because he did not ask her to meet up directly, after which I told them maybe because I intervened.
“When I heard about that boy and girl this week my feelings were that if the laws were different it wouldn’t have happened as he would have been arrested after talking to my daughter.”
In the Facebook messages, Martin tells the girl she looks “sexy”.
He said: “Well.”
To which she responded: “Do I no you?”
Martin, from Waterford city, said: “Random add but ur quar sexy luxin. I’m not a pervert. I just can’t help it if ur gud luxin.”
She asked him how old he was to which he responded 24. She told him she was only 13.
He then said to her: “O ri so do u want me to unfriend u?”
She said, “It’s OK”, to which Martin responded “KK. So u with ne1 [anyone]. R u with ne1, a lad like?”
When the girl said no and asked why he had asked he said: “Jw [just would] love to get to no u as a friend at least.”
She told him to leave her alone. The girl said: “I’m 13 go away.”
At this stage her mum confronted Martin in the Facebook chat.
She said: “This is ***’s [girl’s name] mother. What are you doing even talking to my child? What possible interest would you have in getting to know a 13-year-old as a friend?”
Martin then tried to claim it was not him but a young relative who had been talking to the teen. The mum last night warned other parents of young children using the internet to be extra vigilant and monitor what their kids are doing online at all times.
She added: “As my daughter was 13 the condition of her being allowed to have a Facebook profile was that I had her password at the time so that’s how I was able to see and prevent any further contact.
“I’d urge parents to do the same or God knows what could have happened.
“I was physically sick that this happened to us. It’s something you read about but never imagine will ever happen to you or your family.
“What if I didn’t have her password? Would she have let slip what school she was in? Would he have abducted her?
“Her life would have been ruined, all of our lives would have been. She’s our only child and this predator tried to reach out to her via Facebook.
